Papier-mache-matrix-drying apparatus



(No Model.) 3 S11eetsSheet 1.

J. W. OSBORNE. PAPIER MAOHE MATRIX DRYING APPARATUS.

No. 440,928. Patented NOV. 18, 1890; I

' llllll ll lll l WM aim (NoModeL) 3 SheetsSheet 2.

J-. W. OSBORNE. PAPIER MAOHE MATRIX DRYING APPARATUS. No. 440,923.

Patented Nov. 18

ztv n ox' UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

JOHN WV. OSBORNE, OF IVASHINGTON, DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA, ASSIGNOR OFONE-THIRD TO CARL EDELIIEIM, OF PHILADELPHIA, PENNSYLVANIA.

PAPIER-MACH-MATRlX-DRYING APPARATUS.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 440,923, dated November18, 1890.

Application filed August 22, 1890. Serial No. 362,76 (No model.)

Columbia, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in aPapier-Mach-MatriX-Drying Apparatus, of which the following is aspecification.

This invention has reference to improvements in apparatus for makingpapier-mach matrices for stereotyping, and the same is more especiallyadapted to the manufacture of papier-mach matrices in accordance with aprocess invented by me, and for which I have filed an application forLetters Patent on February 12, 1889, Serial No. 299,666.

In accordance with the invention set forth in my aforesaid applicationpapier-mach matrices are made by beating or otherwise forcing a wetsheet of stratified paper into the interstices of the form, thenpressing and holding it in intimate contact with the form by themechanical pressure of the platen, and then drying the matrix while soheld by passing a current of air over the paper. This process may be andis preferably amplified by heating the form while the same is held incontact with the paper and while the air-current is passed over thelatter, and it is further amplified by heating the air used in theprocess or by drying the same before it is impelled against the matrix,or both. I11 the practice of this process I have found that it isfurther improved by forcing a greater volume of air against the centralportion of the matrix than against the portions extending from themiddle toward the edges, and the best results were obtained when theamount of air impelled against the matrix gradually decreased toward theedges.

The apparatus which constitutes my present invention embodies in itsconstruction the fundamental idea of my improved process and showsseveral means for practicing the same effectively; but it will beunderstood that I do not mean to be limited to the identical structuresherein shown and described, since the same may be variously changed andmodified without departing from the principles of my invention. All thiswill more fully appear from the following detailed description withreference to the accompanying drawings, in which- Figure 1 represents inside elevation an partly in section a matrix-press with accessoryappliances, showing a form on the presstable ready to go under theplaten, the Whole constructed in accordance with my invention. Fig. 2 isa plan View of the same without the form. Fig. 3 is a plan view of amodified kind of platen provided with an inclosed chamber. Fig. 4 is aside elevation of the same. Fig. 5 is a vertical longitudinal section ofthe same platen. Fig. 6 represents a plan view of the face-plate of theplaten, illustrating the distribution of its perforations; and Fig. 7 isan inverted plan, of the platen with the faceplate removed, exhibitingthe strengtheningribs within the chamber. Fig. 8 is a vertical section,partly in elevation and upon an enlarged scale, of a portion of the formwith matrix and blankets ready to receive the platen-pressure; and Fig.9 illustrates in section a supplemental face-plate adapted for use witha form smaller than the platen.

In its simplest form my invention is represented in Figs. 1 and 2. Thehollow bedplate 10, preferably made of iron, is tapped at one point by apipe 11, by which steam is admitted to heat the bed-plate to the desireddegree, and preferably to or above 212 Fahrenheit, and at anothersuitable point the bedplate is tapped by another pipe 11, by whichsteam, after having circulated within the hollow bed-plate, is allowedto escape. Upon this bed-plate the pages of type 12 are placed, face up,and properly locked in a chase. (See also Fig. 8.) The type collectedwithin the chase is known, technically, as the form, and upon this formthe pasted paper sheets 14: are beaten down by a brush or otherwise andare then covered with two or more thicknesses of blanket of open felt16. The form, with the superimposed stratified paper and with the feltblankets, is designed to be pushed under the platen 18, which in effectis nothing but the follower of an ordinary press actuated by the screw20 by means of a hand-wheel, as indicated, or in any other suitablemanner.

In accordance with my invention the platen 18 is provided with a greatnumber of perfo rations 22, so that when the platen is forced down uponthe blanket a current of air impinging upon the platen will findnumerous passages through said platen, through the blankets and alongthe upper surface of the Stratified paper, and will escape at the edgesof the latter, carrying with it the moisture contained in the paper,more especially if the air forced over the surface of the paper is dryand heated. The heated bed-plate communicates its heat to the form fromthe under side, and the form in turn heats the matrix-paper also fromthe under side, so that the moisture contained in the matrix is drivenas steam or vapor toward the upper surface thereof, from whence it isremoved by the aircurrent. I

In Fig. 1 I have indicated the simplest means for producing thenecessary air-currents, the same consisting of air-blast pipes 24 24,communicating with a source of compressed air, (not shown,) and which itis not necessary to show, and these blast-pipes have their openings soarranged, as indicated in Fig. 1, that the air-currents coming from thesame will directly impinge upon the back of the platen.

It will now be seen that my invention provides a matrix-press with meansfor heating the bed-plate of the same and with air-passages through theplaten of the press, as also with means for causing currents of air tobe directed through the air-passages of the platen and against and alongthe back of the papier-mach matrix.

While the arrangement shown in Figs. 1 and 2 is quite effective, Iprovide a speciallyorganized apparatus for the regular practice of myaforesaid process, which apparatus has certain important advantages overthe more simple arrangement illustrated in Figs. 1 and 2. Thisspecially-organized apparatus is illustrated in Figs. 3, 4, 5, 6, and 7.In this case the platen 18 consists of two parts bolted together. Onepart, which may be called the platen-body, is shown in the drawings as abell-shaped casting 26, having formed within the bell-chamberstrengthening-ribs 27, and having the screw 20 of the press swiveled toits upper end, as is clearly shown in Fig. 5. This bell-shapedplaten-body has a perforation 34, which communicates with thebellchamber and with the air-pipe 36, by which compressed air is forcedinto the bell-chamher or through which the air from the bellchamber isexhausted. The air-pipe 36, therefore, must be supposed to be extendedand connected either with an air compressing or exhausting pump or withfans properly constructed and operated to either force airinto thebell-chamber or to exhaust the air there from. For the purposes of mypresent invention the particular construction of the apparatus of theair pump or blower is of no consequence, and for this reason it isdeemed unnecessary to illustrate such pump or blower.

The second part of the platen, which will hereinafter be referred to asthe face-plate, is a fiat rectangular plate 28, of iron or othersuitable material, bolted to the chambered platen 26 by screw-bolts 30,and this face-plate has a series of perforations 32, which arepreferably distributed as indicated in Fig. 6- that is to say, theseperforations are crowded together in the central portion of thefaceplate and are more liberally spaced as they recede from the center,so that the number of air-passages gradually decreases from the centeroutward in all directions.

In operation my improved matrix-press 15 used in a manner which will nowbe easily understood. The hollow bed-plate is heated to the desiredtemperature by the circulation of steam through the same. A stratifiedsheet of paper properly wet-ted is then placed on the type end of theform and is beaten into the interstices of the latter by a brush orotherwise, as usual. One or more blankets of either open felt or flannelare then placed upon the matrix-paper, all as indicated most clearly inFig. 8, and the form with the superimposed matrix-paper and blankets isthen moved into proper position under the platen, which is then forceddown upon the blankets like the follower of an ordinary press. Some ofthe moisture of the matrix is at once absorbed by the blankets, and, thematrix-paper becoming heated, the moisture has a tendency to escapethrough the perforations in the face-plate into the bell-chamber. If newcompressed air is admitted into the chamber throughthe air-pipe 36, thisair, together with the vapors from the matrix-paper, is forced throughthe blankets and is deflected along the surface of the matrix andescapes at the edges of both. If, on the other hand, the air exhaustedfrom the bell-chamber, the external air will rush in through theblankets at the edges of the same and along the surface of the matrixinto the bell-chamber and then out by the air-pipe 36. In either casethe air-current thus produced over and along the upper surface of thematrix will carry off every particle of moisture in a very remarkablyshort time, the process of drying occupying altogether not more thanbetween one and two minutes.

WVith a matrix-press constructed in the manner so far describedthe'matrices to be operated upon must be large enough to cover all theperforations 32 in the face-plate, for otherwise the air-current wouldtake by preference its path through the uncovered perforations, and inorder to adapt the matrixpress to smaller sizes of matrices I usesupplemental face-plates of the kind illustrated in Fig. 9. Thissupplemental face-plate is provided upon its back with a shallow recessof such size that when applied to the normal face-plate said recessextends over all the perforations in the normal face-plate.

A suitable number of studs 38, rising from the bottom of the recess justhigh enough to bring their upper ends into one plane with the ledgesleft by the recess, together with these ledges, receives the-pressure ofthe normal face-plate, and this supplemental faceplate hassuitably-spaced perforations in its central part, which perforationsextend over an area about equal to the area of the smaller size matrix,which it may be desired to use in the press constructed for the largermatrices of normal use.

In use the supplemental face-plate may be simply placed upon theblankets, and then, together with the form, slid under the platen, as ifit were a kind of additional metallic blanket.

\Vith my improved matrix-press all cockling or buckling of the matrix ispositively prevented, notwithstanding the great rapidity with which thedrying of the matrix progresses, for the matrix is at all times held bymechanical pressure in position upon the form.

Having now fully described my invention, I claim and desire to secure byLetters Patent 1. In a papier-mach-matrix-drying apparatus, thecombination of a bed-plate with a perforated follower or platen, andmeans sub- 7 stantially as described, for causing an air-curratus, thecombination of a bed-plate and a perforated 'follower or platen with anairblast pipe or pipes directed with the opening toward the back of theplaten, substantially as described.

4. In a papier-mach-matrix-drying apparatus, the combination of abed-plate and a follower or platen consisting of a bell-shaped platenbody and a perforated face-plate with an air-conduitpipe communicatingWith the bell-chamber of the platen, substantially as described.

5. In a papier-mach-matrix-drying apparatus, the combination of a hollowbed-plate provided with steam inlet and outlet pipes for heating thebed-plate and a perforated follower or platen with an airblast pipe orpipes directed with the opening toward the back of the platen,substantially as described.

6. In a papier-mach-matrix-drying apparatus, the combination of abed-plate and a follower or platen having a face-plate provided withperforations distributed over an area corresponding to the area of amatrix of normal size with a supplemental face-plate recessed on oneside and having perforations extending over the area of a matrix ofsmaller size, and means, substantially as described, for producingair-currents through the faceplates and over the matrix in eitherdirection, substantially as described.

In testimony whereof I have signed my name to this specification in thepresence of two subscribing witnesses.

J. V. OSBORNE.

Witnesses:

JOSEPH LYONS, F. T. CHAPMAN.

